Thursday, January 22, 2015

The Dry Gulch Stone Journals: Lapis

Today
on our semi-precious lore blog we’re discovering Lapis lazuli. This
beautiful blue stone is rich in jewelry making history. Read on to
learn all about this fabulous stone!

Lapis lazuli is a blue semi-precious stone known since ancient
times. Its color ranges from pale blue to a royal, rich blue, and it
often has white or black marbling. It also has metallic gold flecks.
It was used by the Egyptians in jewelry, medicine and beauty as early as
the 3,000s B.C., but has been mined as early as the 6,000s B.C. It’s
been used throughout history as an artistic element, whether that be an
entire room of Lapis walls and furniture during Russian empress
Catherine the Great’s reign, or ground down to pigment and mixed into
paint used by artists during the European Renaissance and Baroque eras.
With a hardness of 5.5 on the Mohs scale, Lapis can be easily carved
and always polishes to a lustrous shine.

The name Lapis is
Latin for stone and lazuli is an old Persian name for the blue rock.
Lapis is made of mostly Lazurite, with flecks of color coming from iron
Pyrite (gold color) and calcium Calcite (white color). Lazurite is made
of sulfur and chloride, and almost exclusively appears in marble
deposits in mountainous regions. There are small deposits of Lapis in
the U.S., Russia and Chile, but most Lapis in the ancient and modern
world comes from the Badakhshan province of northeastern Afghanistan.
With Lapis having such a rich and ancient history, it is bursting with
metaphysical properties and legends. In Hindu and Buddhist religion it
is the stone of the throat chakra, and aids in diseases of the throat
and head. It brings energy to the body and opens up channels for that
energy to flow. It also known for its calming effect, and lends clarity
and patience to the wearer. In ancient Chinese traditions it is
associated with water and brings serenity and wisdom. The word Lazuli
also stems from the Arabic Lazaward, meaning heaven or sky. Lapis’ rich
blue color with golden flecks is synonymous with a night sky.
Lapis can be graded according to richness of the blue color, for example
“milky” or pale Lapis would be C Grade, and rich blue with Pyrite
flecks would be A Grade. Depending on the artist’s intent and design,
any of the grades would suffice. Wherever artists pick up Lapis to use
in their designs, they can be sure that they have a true gem stuffed
full of ancient history and legends in their hands.